"paleface" meaning in English

See paleface in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Audio: En-au-paleface.ogg Forms: palefaces [plural]
Etymology: From pale + face, a supposed calque from a Native American language. First appears in print c. 1797. Etymology templates: {{compound|en|pale|face}} pale + face, {{glossary|calque}} calque Head templates: {{en-noun}} paleface (plural palefaces)
  1. (ethnic slur) A white person, a person of European descent, particularly in Native American contexts. Tags: ethnic, slur Synonyms: white person, Paleface, pale face, pale-face Related terms: palefaced Translations (a white person of European descent, in the context of American Indians): սպիտակամորթ (spitakamortʻ) (Armenian), бледолик (bledolik) (Bulgarian), bledá tvář (Czech), blegansigt [neuter] (Danish), bleekgezicht [neuter] (Dutch), kahvanägu (Estonian), kalpeanaama (Finnish), visage pâle [masculine] (French), Bleichgesicht [neuter] (German), χλωμό πρόσωπο (chlomó prósopo) [neuter] (Greek), sápadtarcú (Hungarian), viso pallido [masculine] (Italian), blada twarz [feminine] (Polish), cara-pálida [masculine] (Portuguese), бледноли́цый (blednolícyj) (Russian), blekansikte [neuter] (Swedish), блідоли́ций (blidolýcyj) (Ukrainian)

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
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  "etymology_text": "From pale + face, a supposed calque from a Native American language. First appears in print c. 1797.",
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1848, James Fenimore Cooper, chapter XXVIII, in The Bee-Hunter, or, The Oak Openings:",
          "text": "Dere is Great Wicked Spirit, too... Heart grow hard. Great pleasure was to kill pale-face. Dat feeling last, Blossom, till I see you. Feel like fader to you, and don't want your scalp... Still want all udder pale-face scalp. Want Bourdon scalp much as any.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1889, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Sketches from Memory”, in The Great Stone Face and Other Tales of the White Mountains:",
          "text": "The hearts of the palefaces would not thrill to these superstitions of the red men, though we spoke of them in the centre of the haunted region.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1905, Edward S. Ellis, Deerfoot in The Mountains:",
          "text": "The dusky hunters \"guyed\" the palefaces who could not do as well as they with their primitive weapons, even though the fire spouted from the iron tubes and the balls that could not be seen by the eye carried death farther than did the missiles launched by the natives.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1908, Zane Grey, The Last of the Plainsmen:",
          "text": "\"Yes me big paleface—me come long way toward setting sun—go cross Big Water—go Buckskin—Siwash—chase cougar.\" The cougar, or mountain lion, is a Navajo god and the Navajos hold him in as much fear and reverence as do the Great Slave Indians the musk-ox.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1909, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “He Also Serves”, in Options:",
          "text": "High Jack had been drinking too much rum ever since we landed in Boca. You know how an Indian is—the palefaces fixed his clock when they introduced him to firewater.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1916 March 11, “Silly Place-Names”, in Saturday Evening Post:",
          "text": "Some Blackfeet Indians, with a taste and a respect for Nature that shames the paleface, have protested to the Secretary of the Interior[…]",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1998, Jim Goad, The Redneck Manifesto, page 128:",
          "text": "Speed is whitey's drug, from the palefaces who cook it to the Caspers who deal it to the ofay vanilla wafers who snort or spike it.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
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      "id": "en-paleface-en-noun-Az6gapz3",
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        [
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          "word": "Paleface"
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        {
          "word": "pale face"
        },
        {
          "word": "pale-face"
        }
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      "tags": [
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        "slur"
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      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "hy",
          "lang": "Armenian",
          "roman": "spitakamortʻ",
          "sense": "a white person of European descent, in the context of American Indians",
          "word": "սպիտակամորթ"
        },
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          "code": "bg",
          "lang": "Bulgarian",
          "roman": "bledolik",
          "sense": "a white person of European descent, in the context of American Indians",
          "word": "бледолик"
        },
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          "code": "cs",
          "lang": "Czech",
          "sense": "a white person of European descent, in the context of American Indians",
          "word": "bledá tvář"
        },
        {
          "code": "da",
          "lang": "Danish",
          "sense": "a white person of European descent, in the context of American Indians",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
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        },
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "a white person of European descent, in the context of American Indians",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "bleekgezicht"
        },
        {
          "code": "et",
          "lang": "Estonian",
          "sense": "a white person of European descent, in the context of American Indians",
          "word": "kahvanägu"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "a white person of European descent, in the context of American Indians",
          "word": "kalpeanaama"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "a white person of European descent, in the context of American Indians",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "visage pâle"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "a white person of European descent, in the context of American Indians",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "Bleichgesicht"
        },
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          "code": "el",
          "lang": "Greek",
          "roman": "chlomó prósopo",
          "sense": "a white person of European descent, in the context of American Indians",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "χλωμό πρόσωπο"
        },
        {
          "code": "hu",
          "lang": "Hungarian",
          "sense": "a white person of European descent, in the context of American Indians",
          "word": "sápadtarcú"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "a white person of European descent, in the context of American Indians",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "viso pallido"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "a white person of European descent, in the context of American Indians",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "blada twarz"
        },
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          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "sense": "a white person of European descent, in the context of American Indians",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "cara-pálida"
        },
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          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "roman": "blednolícyj",
          "sense": "a white person of European descent, in the context of American Indians",
          "word": "бледноли́цый"
        },
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          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "a white person of European descent, in the context of American Indians",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "blekansikte"
        },
        {
          "code": "uk",
          "lang": "Ukrainian",
          "roman": "blidolýcyj",
          "sense": "a white person of European descent, in the context of American Indians",
          "word": "блідоли́ций"
        }
      ]
    }
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      "args": {
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  "etymology_text": "From pale + face, a supposed calque from a Native American language. First appears in print c. 1797.",
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      "word": "palefaced"
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          "ref": "1848, James Fenimore Cooper, chapter XXVIII, in The Bee-Hunter, or, The Oak Openings:",
          "text": "Dere is Great Wicked Spirit, too... Heart grow hard. Great pleasure was to kill pale-face. Dat feeling last, Blossom, till I see you. Feel like fader to you, and don't want your scalp... Still want all udder pale-face scalp. Want Bourdon scalp much as any.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1889, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Sketches from Memory”, in The Great Stone Face and Other Tales of the White Mountains:",
          "text": "The hearts of the palefaces would not thrill to these superstitions of the red men, though we spoke of them in the centre of the haunted region.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1905, Edward S. Ellis, Deerfoot in The Mountains:",
          "text": "The dusky hunters \"guyed\" the palefaces who could not do as well as they with their primitive weapons, even though the fire spouted from the iron tubes and the balls that could not be seen by the eye carried death farther than did the missiles launched by the natives.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1908, Zane Grey, The Last of the Plainsmen:",
          "text": "\"Yes me big paleface—me come long way toward setting sun—go cross Big Water—go Buckskin—Siwash—chase cougar.\" The cougar, or mountain lion, is a Navajo god and the Navajos hold him in as much fear and reverence as do the Great Slave Indians the musk-ox.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1909, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “He Also Serves”, in Options:",
          "text": "High Jack had been drinking too much rum ever since we landed in Boca. You know how an Indian is—the palefaces fixed his clock when they introduced him to firewater.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1916 March 11, “Silly Place-Names”, in Saturday Evening Post:",
          "text": "Some Blackfeet Indians, with a taste and a respect for Nature that shames the paleface, have protested to the Secretary of the Interior[…]",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1998, Jim Goad, The Redneck Manifesto, page 128:",
          "text": "Speed is whitey's drug, from the palefaces who cook it to the Caspers who deal it to the ofay vanilla wafers who snort or spike it.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(ethnic slur) A white person, a person of European descent, particularly in Native American contexts."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "white person"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
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  "synonyms": [
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      "word": "Paleface"
    },
    {
      "word": "pale face"
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    {
      "word": "pale-face"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "hy",
      "lang": "Armenian",
      "roman": "spitakamortʻ",
      "sense": "a white person of European descent, in the context of American Indians",
      "word": "սպիտակամորթ"
    },
    {
      "code": "bg",
      "lang": "Bulgarian",
      "roman": "bledolik",
      "sense": "a white person of European descent, in the context of American Indians",
      "word": "бледолик"
    },
    {
      "code": "cs",
      "lang": "Czech",
      "sense": "a white person of European descent, in the context of American Indians",
      "word": "bledá tvář"
    },
    {
      "code": "da",
      "lang": "Danish",
      "sense": "a white person of European descent, in the context of American Indians",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "blegansigt"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "a white person of European descent, in the context of American Indians",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "bleekgezicht"
    },
    {
      "code": "et",
      "lang": "Estonian",
      "sense": "a white person of European descent, in the context of American Indians",
      "word": "kahvanägu"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "a white person of European descent, in the context of American Indians",
      "word": "kalpeanaama"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "a white person of European descent, in the context of American Indians",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "visage pâle"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "a white person of European descent, in the context of American Indians",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "Bleichgesicht"
    },
    {
      "code": "el",
      "lang": "Greek",
      "roman": "chlomó prósopo",
      "sense": "a white person of European descent, in the context of American Indians",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "χλωμό πρόσωπο"
    },
    {
      "code": "hu",
      "lang": "Hungarian",
      "sense": "a white person of European descent, in the context of American Indians",
      "word": "sápadtarcú"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "a white person of European descent, in the context of American Indians",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "viso pallido"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "a white person of European descent, in the context of American Indians",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "blada twarz"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "sense": "a white person of European descent, in the context of American Indians",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "cara-pálida"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "roman": "blednolícyj",
      "sense": "a white person of European descent, in the context of American Indians",
      "word": "бледноли́цый"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "a white person of European descent, in the context of American Indians",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "blekansikte"
    },
    {
      "code": "uk",
      "lang": "Ukrainian",
      "roman": "blidolýcyj",
      "sense": "a white person of European descent, in the context of American Indians",
      "word": "блідоли́ций"
    }
  ],
  "word": "paleface"
}

Download raw JSONL data for paleface meaning in English (7.3kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-25 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-20 using wiktextract (c15a5ce and 5c11237). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.